The year 2010 was another introspective one for Germany. While the increase in economic growth raised consumer confidence and spread a positive glow over the country, internal political strife fixed national attention on domestic events. A wave of resignations culminated in the withdrawal of Pres. Horst Köhler from politics. The ensuing political positioning not only put the viability of the ruling coalition into doubt but also highlighted internal divisions within the opposition. Increased judicial activism by the Constitutional Court caused ongoing tension between the branches of government, and a building project in southern Germany disturbed the peace. Internationally, Germany seemed to have lost the courage to keep its promise to lead the world in the response to climate change.

On July 2, 2010, after being sworn in as president of Germany, Christian Wulff addresses the …

Markus Schreiber/AP

Domestic Affairs

In her New Year’s speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germans could expect a hard year. She spoke of the need to endure the economic slump until positive developments reached the ranks of citizens and improved daily life. It was not the economic situation, however, that provided the primary difficulties for the chancellor but rather the divisions within her own ruling coalition. After the 2009 election, a traditional ruling coalition had formed consisting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the Christian Social Union (CSU)—the Bavarian regional party. During most of its stints in power, the CDU had governed in coalition with these same partners, and the Christian Democrats therefore could not initially be faulted for the paralysis of shocked surprise that seemed to overcome them when their coalition partners began to quarrel. The discussion of every topic from health policies to internal security resulted in extravagant displays of rhetoric. Doubts were raised nearly every week regarding the ongoing stability of the coalition as its junior partners issued threats and proclamations. So extensive was the difference in visibility between the three parties that in the first few months of 2010, it almost appeared as if the two smaller partners controlled the coalition. This much was clear: the CSU was in a deep identity crisis. Its advantage and main selling point as coalition partner had always been its ability to deliver Bavaria. In 2009, however, the CSU had its worst election result (6.5% of the national vote) since 1949. It was not even able to capture a majority of votes in Bavaria, where it tallied only 42% of the ballots. As a result, the CSU was desperately flexing its muscles to hide its internal weakness. The FDP, on the other hand, had received a historic high percentage of the national vote with 14.6%, double its total in the 2002 election. It appeared, however, that the FDP was overestimating its importance in its frenzy of happiness. Meanwhile, the CDU became a bystander while its two coalition partners squabbled.

The CDU was not the only party with a troubled mindset during the year. While the Green Party celebrated its 30th anniversary and snubbed all those who had predicted a short life span for it, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was still trying to find its position on the political spectrum vis-à-vis the new left-leaning party, the Left (die Linke). The retreat from political life of the leader of the Left and former SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine was heralded as possibly producing a change in the relationship between the two parties. He had been the most forceful opponent of any compromise in forming a coalition, and the next few years might show if the parties could overcome this divisive approach to emerge as a strong, united political left. A relaxation of the relationship between the Left and the SPD seemed to be in the offing when, following the election to the North Rhine–Westphalian parliament on May 9th, the two parties seriously considered forming a coalition. This coalition did not come to fruition, however, because the largest party, the SPD, was able to form a minority government with the Greens.

Lafontaine was not the only politician to resign in 2010. Indeed, German politics experienced a wave of resignations that culminated in those of the Hessian prime minister, Roland Koch, and President Köhler (whose office was filled by Jens Böhrnsen until an election could be held). Serious debate on the ethical and moral implications of political resignation ensued in the media and the parliament and led to a question of propriety. Should a politician, after having decided to serve his or her people for a certain time period, be able to resign without providing a legitimate reason for the decision?

This debate was quickly overshadowed, however, by the party strife, which was highlighted by each party’s having to choose a candidate for the presidential election. The SPD chose Joachim Gauck, a former anticommunist civil rights activist, who was highly regarded even by the ruling coalition. As a result, some members of the FDP announced that they would be supporting the SPD candidate. The situation heated up enough that the continued viability of the ruling coalition was openly linked to the fate of the CDU candidate, Christian Wulff. The situation was further aggravated by the CSU, which criticized the SPD for having selected a candidate who would be unacceptable to any other left party, especially the Left. On election day, June 30, emotions ran high, and the failure of Wulff to secure an absolute majority in the first two ballots added to the tension. In the end, Wulff managed to capture the election in the third ballot.

The discussion surrounding the presidential election touched on another recurring issue: gender equity. The previous few years had seen repeated attempts to improve opportunities for women to combine child rearing and a career. Because of the German school system’s short hours and the lack of availability of child-care facilities outside school, wide-ranging social reforms were required if mothers were to be able to pursue careers. One of these reforms was the attempt by the parties to increase the number of women in prominent roles. In the lead-up to the election, the absence of a female presidential candidate representing the large parties was criticized, especially after the CDU made a last-minute decision to nominate Wulff rather than the popular Ursula von der Leyen. The debate over gender equity received further fodder in June when the education ministers of the Länder (states) presented the results of a survey of school performance. The survey showed that both socioeconomic background and gender had a large influence on a student’s success. Regional disparities between schools were found to be grave. Furthermore, on average, boys were shown to have performed worse in school than girls, yet the percentage of women in leading positions in business and government in Germany remained below 15%. Moreover, women still dominated the worst-paid professions, and the average hourly salary for German women was 25% lower than that for men. Nevertheless, in the wake of the survey, debate in the parliament focused on whether the school system needed to be adjusted to provide more advantages for boys.

Another surprising development during the year was the mounting tension between the government and the Constitutional Court, which had long been held in high esteem by Germans. Indeed, 86% of those surveyed in a 2006 poll indicated that the court was the institution that they trusted most. Therefore, the government had always been leery of confronting the court. In response to the increasing number of laws that had been reviewed by the court, however, this situation changed in 2010, with the government having openly criticized the court’s handling of cases relating to religion, gay rights, immigration, and budget issues.

Cultural Affairs

In 2010 Germany finished in third place in the association football (soccer) World Cup for the second time in a row. (SeeSidebar.) The country also accumulated the second highest total of medals at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. (SeeSpecial Report.) Away from the playing fields, a rail project in southern Germany caused riotous behaviour on the streets of Stuttgart. Conceptualized in the mid-1980s, the Stuttgart 21 project was an attempt to provide fast-rail links from Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, to Paris, Vienna, and other international destinations. The project sought both to reinvigorate Stuttgart’s economy—which lagged behind those of the region’s two other main cities, Frankfurt and Munich—and to increase rail travel in the interest of CO2 reduction. The major bone of contention was the project’s price tag of €4.5 billion (about $6 billion), which prompted demonstrations by both those who were for and those who were against the project. In one instance police used water cannons to disperse a crowd that had thrown bottles and stones at them. A survey showed that 34% of the population in Stuttgart opposed the project, whereas 38% supported it. Opinion was much less divided when it came to the widespread opposition to the implementation in Germany of Google’s Street View project, which provided street-level interactive photographic images of neighbourhoods and was seen by many Germans as an invasion of privacy.

Economic Affairs

Economic development in Germany was still much influenced by the global economic downturn and especially by the economic crisis in Greece, which seemed to herald a bleak year for the euro zone. Yet even against this backdrop, the German economy registered an unexpected 3.4% growth in 2010, which buoyed consumer confidence. German concerns regarding a lack of fiscal austerity on the part of some of its euro zone partners seemed to have been borne out by the Greek financial crisis. For a long time the German government balked at a bailout for Greece without guarantees of more regulated fiscal policies throughout the EU. In the end Germany agreed to a massive loan package for Greece, and the increased economic growth that resulted in Germany, as well as in most other euro zone countries, seemed to indicate that this was the right decision. The debate regarding the harmonization of fiscal policies was not yet over, however. Germany too came under criticism. In particular, its European partners accused the Merkel government of not having done enough to reduce carbon emissions, an issue in which Germany had promised to take a leadership role. Regulation of the German auto-manufacturing industry was at the heart of this matter.

International Affairs

Internationally, the year was generally a quiet one for Germany. At the Group of 20 summit, Germany joined the U.S., France, and the U.K. in calling for international regulation of the banking sector, but their proposal was unable to overcome opposition from Brazil, Australia, and Canada. The Munich Security Conference in February was dominated by the situations in Iran and Afghanistan. The conference, as well as Germany’s mediation attempts in Iran, were criticized by some for having produced much talk but little consequent action. At the EU summit in September, Germany pressed again for increased banking regulation, this time within the EU. This summit, however, would be better remembered for the effect it had on Franco-German relations. Having been widely criticized for his government’s policy of forcefully expelling Roma (Gypsies) from France, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, insisted that Merkel had told him that Germany would employ a similar policy. The German chancellor denied ever having said anything to this effect and emphasized that her government had no such plans. This exchange not only adversely affected Franco-German relations but also soured the personal relationship between Sarkozy and Merkel, who previously had been his strongest supporter on the international front. In December Germany announced that like its NATO partners, it would begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2011. Overall, 2010 was another year in which Germany concentrated mainly on internal matters—possibly to the detriment of its international position. Notably, at the UN summit, which was the lead-up to the World Climate Summit, Germany failed to take a principal role. In the process, the international leadership in regard to climate-change policy that Merkel had fought so hard to attain for Germany seemed to have been lost.